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The foreign ministers of Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, France and the United Arab Emirates issued a joint statement condemning “Turkey’s illegal activities in the EEZ and the territorial waters of Cyprus.”
Among other things, the foreign ministers also condemned “the escalation of Turkish violations in Greece’s national airspace, including overflights over residential areas and territorial waters in violation of international law”, as well as “the instrumentalization of civilians by Turkey in an attempt to illegally cross Greek land borders and provide ongoing support for Greek maritime borders to cross illegally. “
At the same time, the strong condemnation of the memoranda between Ankara and Tripoli, as well as Turkey’s military intervention in Libya, called on the neighboring country to “fully respect the UN arms embargo and stop the influx of foreign fighters from Syria to Libya”.
As detailed by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Following prior consultations and regular coordination between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece with France under the “3 + 1” scheme, the group’s Foreign Ministers held a conference call on May 11, 2020 with their counterpart from the United States. . The UAE will debate recent troubling events in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as a series of regional crises that threaten peace and stability in the region.
2- The Ministers stressed that the strengthening and intensification of their political consultations are of strategic importance and praised the result of the Cairo meeting on January 8, 2020 to strengthen security and stability in the eastern Mediterranean, while They expressed their deepest concern about current escalation and ongoing provocative actions in the eastern Mediterranean.
3- The Ministers condemned the ongoing illegal Turkish activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone and in the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus, as they are a clear violation of international law as reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
This is Turkey’s sixth attempt in less than a year to carry out illegal drilling in the sea areas of Cyprus.
4- The ministers also condemned the escalation of Turkish violations in the national airspace of Greece, including overflights over residential areas and territorial waters in violation of international law. Furthermore, the ministers condemned the instrumentalization of civilians by Turkey in an attempt to illegally cross the Greek land border and provided them with continued support for illegally crossing the Greek maritime border.
5- The Ministers called on Turkey to fully respect the sovereignty and sovereignty of all states in their maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean.
6- The Ministers reiterated that the Memorandum of Understanding on the delimitation of the maritime judicial areas in the Mediterranean and the Memorandum of Understanding on security and military cooperation signed in November 2019 in Sarajevo between Turkey and Mr. and the embargo of arms of the UN to Libya, and that both undermine regional stability. The ministers recalled that the Memorandum of Understanding on the delimitation of jurisdictions in the Mediterranean violates the sovereign rights of third countries, does not comply with the law of the sea and cannot have any legal effect in third countries.
7- The Ministers expressed their deep regret at the escalation of hostilities in Libya and recalled the commitment to refrain from any military intervention in Libya, as agreed in the conclusions of the Berlin Conference. In this context, the Ministers strongly condemned Turkey’s military intervention in Libya and called on Turkey to fully respect the UN arms embargo and to stop the influx of foreign fighters from Syria to Libya. These events represent a threat to the stability of the countries bordering Libya, both in Africa and in Europe.
8- The ministers called on the Libyan parties to observe a ceasefire during the holy month of Ramadan and highlighted their commitment to work for a comprehensive political solution to the Libyan crisis under the auspices of the United Nations, and expressed their desire to resume the meetings. for the three axes of the Berlin process (political, military, economic / financial).
9- The Ministers agreed to continue their consultations regularly. “
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